Professional Development

Essay Writing Skills

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October 26, 2012

Hi everyone!

This is the summary of Writing Skill Essay workshop which I delivered with my team when I was in University on May 25th, 2011. I think this is very relevant skills for those of you seek essay writing technique especially in english. Besides the technique, I provide very specific detail in essay language aspects which would be very useful for you to develop your language skills in writing essay.  So, this is my real experiences in summary how to write essay well. I took a lot of resources especially from TOEFL iBT Writing Skills. Hope this would help you a lot! Thank you for reading!
How to write Essay?

Steps Writing Essays Elaboration
Preparing to write ü Brainstorming ideas, different points of viewü Reading and gathering informationü Practicing related vocabularyü Making prediction, ideas, arguments, and inferences
ü Analyzing comparisons, causes-effects, general and specific ideas, examples, advantage, disadvantages, problems
ü Distinguish facts and opinions
ü Evaluating personal experiences
Identifying types of essay ü Describe something/state an opinion/show a relationship between two things/solve a problem
Organizing paragraph ü Topic sentences(can be at the beginning, middle, or at the end of paragraph)ü Bridge sentences(connect it to examples)ü Explanation and elaboration to support the main ideasü Restates the main ideas
ü Achieve coherence (logical connection through using pronouns, repetition of key words, and paraphrase.
ü Use outline, a list, graphic organizer
ü Use listing signals (first, second, third, and finally)
ü Use sentence connectors

  1. 1.      Introduce the same ideas: similarly, likewise, in the same way, in addition, moreover, besides;
  2. 2.      Show the other side:  however, on the other hand, conversely, in contrast
  3. 3.       Expand a point by providing specific illustration for example, in fact
  4. 4.      Conclude a result: thus, therefore, in conclusion

 
Developing Academic Essay
  1. 1.    Introduction

ü  General to specific
ü  Set the scene to engage the reader
ü  Provide background information (5w+1h), summary article.
ü  Short explanation of a definition, problem
ü  Your approach on issues, thesis statement, proposed solution

  1. 2.    Content

ü  Explain & support ideas
ü  Provide facts, examples, details, anecdotes, quotes, or statistics.

  1. 3.    Conclusion

ü  Restatement of thesis
ü  Leave the reader with challenging thought.
 
Evaluating essay ü  Content:

  • Describe information, anecdotes, comparisons to help the reader
  • Present current, concrete, relevant details that are informative and interesting
  • Develop explanation, examples, reasons, personal experiences, personal reactions or evidences.
  • Develop background, purpose, problems and results

ü  Organization:

  • Introduction engages reader and leads to main ideas,
  • Supporting ideas are organizes in paragraphs that have smooth transitions from one to another and persuasive
  • Present problem and explain solutions
  • There is a conclusion that summarizes the main idea and supporting arguments.

ü  Vocabulary and sentence structure:

  • Vocabulary and expressions explain and describe clearly
  • New or abstract terms are defined
  • Includes quotations or paraphrase to be convincing
  • Sentences types are varied
  • Keep the reader interested

ü  Grammar:

  • Subjects and verbs agree
  • Common grammar problems (pronouns, articles, and plurals) are minimal so that meaning is clear

ü  Spelling and Mechanics
Most words are spelled correctly and punctuation is clear.
 

Essay Languange Aspects

Learning Objectives Topic
Language AspectsIntroduction ü Vocabulary and sentence structure:

  • Vocabulary and expressions explain and describe clearly
  • New or abstract terms are defined
  • Includes quotations or paraphrase to be convincing
  • Sentences types are varied
  • Keep the reader interested

ü Grammar:

  • Subjects and verbs agree
  • Common grammar problems (pronouns, articles, and plurals) are minimal so that meaning is clear

ü Spelling and Mechanics
Most words are spelled correctly and punctuation is clear.
 
Developing Cohesion and Styles ü Achieve coherence(logical connection through using pronouns, repetition of key words, and paraphrase)ü Connects Phrase (also, so, but)ü  Pronouns (I, we, you, he, she, it)ü Articles (a/the)
ü Giving examples (such as)
ü Using there and it
ü Dependent clauses (because)
ü Using Quantifiers (many, some, a few, most, a lot of, all + count n) (much, some, most, a lot of, a little, all + noncount n)
ü Use listing signals (first, second, third, and finally)
ü Use sentence connectors

  1. 1.      Introduce the same ideas: similarly, likewise, in the same way, in addition, moreover, besides;
  2. 2.      Show the other side:  however, on the other hand, conversely, in contrast
  3. 3.      Expand a point by providing specific illustration for example, in fact
  4. 4.      Conclude a result: thus, therefore, in conclusion

 
Giving Opinions & Suggestions ü  Use should, need to, it would be better if.
Showing Causes & Effects ü  Noun  + causes/leads to/result in/contributes to + nounü  Noun + comes from, results from, is a result of , is caused by+ noun
Citing Authorities ü  According to (Name+qualification) + quoted wordsü  Quoted words +said, stated, claimed, predicted (Name +qualification)ü  (Name+Qualification) said, stated, claimed, predicted (that)
Expressions for making comparisons ü  Similarities: X is as (adjective) as Y, Both X & Y are, Neither X & Y is.., X and Y are alike because they share, X is similar to Yü  Differences: X is….but Y is.., X is more/less (adj) than Y, X and Y are different because…Unlike X, Y is…, Although X is…., Y is.. X is…. On the other hand, Y is…

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